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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Back to School
Aired August 11, 2003 - 06:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Kids are heading to the malls before heading back to school.
Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site with details live out of New York, and they are leaving their parents home?
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A lot of them are, Carol. Call it a new world order, if you will, when it comes to shopping, kids are taking the reins when it comes to the back-to- school shopping season.
Now the National Retail Federation says more kids are hitting the malls alone and retailers are taking notice. This is called the Tween's market. We're talking about kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years old. They are increasingly asserting their independence from mom and dad. And a lot of these parentless shoppers are young girls.
Now one of the things some retailers are doing, according to "USA Today," Visa is tapping into this trend introducing a new prepaid sort of like a debit card. It's pink. It has teen star Hillary Duff on the front. The idea is that these girls can use the card without their parent. The cards are starting to be used.
And this is really big business for retailers. About $14 billion is spent on the back-to-school shopping season, second only to Christmas. So it behooves retailers to stay on top of this trend. It seems like kids are getting younger and younger and more -- and independence is really increasing the younger they get, but it's big business for retailers so they have to do -- they have to follow the trend.
COSTELLO: Yes. And, Carrie, how nice of Visa to like train people young to use those credit cards.
LEE: Right. Now a lot of the parents say they have the ultimate say in what their kids buy, but this certainly a trust factor. And a lot of these girls shopping with their peers and some of their friends and they go online, they see what they are interested in buying, they know what they want. And most of them using some of their own money, as well in addition to what their parents are giving them, one in four on average.
COSTELLO: It's a whole different world, isn't it? I can't imagine my mom giving me a credit card or letting me shop by myself at age 11.
LEE: Or even age of 8 at the youngest, very young.
COSTELLO: All right. Carrie Lee reporting live out of New York this morning.
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